When I was younger, and worked in an "old HP" test and measurement division,
I sometimes sat at lunch in the cafeteria with a group of older co-workers
who I grew to have immense respect for. They told great stories. I learned
a lot of practical electronics from them... and other things too.

Each carried on their person a copy of the US Constitution and Bill of
Rights, and most also had a "concealed carry" permit, which they would refer
to as their "redneck license". I quickly learned that they weren't all gun
fanatics... at that time, the vetting process for such a permit was a bit
daunting, and having one was their way of "proving" that they were honest,
law-abiding citizens. Citizens who knew their rights. Who enjoyed debating
boundary conditions in those rights inspired by current events at the lunch
table. I miss those guys and those conversations.

I mention this because it's one of those things that I realize now had a
significant formative impact on my adult values and world view. Freedom
matters. That's why, despite my long-standing appreciation for and support
of the organization's activities, I'm embarrassed to admit that it wasn't
until this week that I personally joined the
American Civil Liberties Union
and sent them a donation.

At the end of August 2012, I announced my
Early Retirement
from HP. Two years later, my friend and former boss Martin Fink
successfully recruited me to return to what later became
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, as an
HPE Fellow
working on open source strategy in his Office of the CTO.

I'm proud of what I was was able to accomplish in the 25 months since then,
but recent efforts to "simplify" HPE actually made things complicated for
me. Between the announcement in late June that
Martin intended to retire himself,
and the two major spin-merger announcements involving
Enterprise Services
and
Software... well...

The bottom line is that today, 30 September 2016, is my last day at HPE.

My plan is to "return to retirement" and work on some fun projects with my wife
now that we are "empty nesters". I do intend to remain involved in the Free
Software and open hardware worlds, but whether that might eventually involve
further employment is something I'm going to try and avoid thinking about
for a while...

I woke up this morning and realized that for the first time since
17 April 2001,
I am no longer a member of the Debian Technical Committee.

My departure from the committee is a consequence of the
Debian General Resolution
"limiting the term of the technical committee members" that was passed
amending the Debian Constitution nearly a year ago. As the two longest-serving
members, both over the term limit, Steve Langasek and I completed our service
yesterday.

In early March 2015, I
stepped down
from the role of chairman after serving in that role for the better part of
a decade, to help ensure a smooth transition. Don Armstrong is now serving
admirably in that role, I have the utmost respect for the remaining members
of the TC, and the process of nominating replacements for the two now-vacant
seats is already well underway.

So, for the Debian project as a whole, today is really a non-event... which
is exactly as it should be! Debian has been a part of my life since 1994,
and I sincerely hope to be able to remain involved for many years to come!

Keith and I are pleased to announce the immediate availability of EasyMega
v1.0!

EasyMega is effectively a
TeleMega without the GPS receiver and
radio telemetry system. TeleMega and EasyMega both have 6 pyro
channels and enough sensors to lock out pyro events based on conditions
like tilt-angle from vertical, making both boards ideal solutions for complex
projects with air start or multi-stage engine ignition requirements. Choose
TeleMega for a complete in-airframe solution including radio telemetry and
GPS, or EasyMega if you already have a tracking solution you like and just
need intelligent control of multiple pyro events.

EasyMega is 2.25 x 1.25 inches (57.15 x 31.75 mm), which means it can be
easily mounted in a 38 mm air frame coupler. The list price for EasyMega
is $300, but as an introductory special, you can purchase one now through
Labor Day for only $250! This special is only good for in-person purchases
at Airfest and orders placed directly through Bdale's web store.

Altus Metrum products are available directly from
Bdale's web store, and from these distributors:

All Altus Metrum products are completely open hardware and open source.
The hardware design details and all source code are openly available for
download, and advanced users are invited to join our developer community
and help to enhance and extend the system. You can learn more about
Altus Metrum products at http://altusmetrum.org.

A year ago today, on 11 June 2013, daughter Elizabeth and I smelled smoke,
kicking off an adrenalin-pumped afternoon evacuating our home, which was
located very close to the point of origin of the
Black Forest Fire. The
short version is that we ended up losing our house and most of our "stuff",
but all the people, pets, and a few of our most prized possessions escaped
unscathed. If you need more details, I told a
longer version of the story
at Linux Conf Australia in Perth this January.

This has been an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy... but a year
later, I'm pleased to report that life is largely back to normal and things
are moving along just fine! The 2-bedroom apartment we found to live in
while rebuilding has been sufficient to our needs, but we can't wait to move
in to the new house under construction on our property in a couple more
months. And after graduating from Oberlin College
with a degree in physics and minor in the classics, we're very pleased that
Elizabeth is back with us for a while this summer before she starts the next
phase of her life as a research assistant and PhD candidate at the
ASU Center for Science and the Imagination in
August. And Altus Metrum, LLC is successfully
back in business producing some cool new toys...

We owe an immense debt of gratitude to you, our many friends both near and
far, who have shown us so much caring and support in the last year. Thank you!

Keith and I are pleased to announce the immediate availability of TeleGPS
v1.0!

TeleGPS is our response to the many
requests we've received for an easy-to-use tracking-only board that just
provides GPS position information over radio. Combining the
same uBlox Max 7Q GPS receiver used in
TeleMega and
TeleMetrum v2.0 with a
16mW transmitter yields a board that is 1.5 x 1.0 inches (38.1 x 25.4 mm).

As usual for our products, TeleGPS is designed for use under FCC Part 97
(ham radio) rules or equivalent authorization. In addition to the GPS
receiver and UHF radio transmitter, TeleGPS includes on-board flash data
storage and a micro USB connector for configuration, post-flight data
download, and to power a LiPo battery charger.

TeleGPS works with our existing ground station products and/or any radio
equipped with APRS support, and also emits audible radio direction finding
beeps. While TeleGPS can be used with our existing
AltosUI and
AltosDroid ground station software,
Keith is working on a simpler, dedicated application optimized for use
with TeleGPS.

Altus Metrum products are available directly from
Bdale's web store, and from these distributors:

All Altus Metrum products are completely open hardware and open source.
The hardware design details and all source code are openly available for
download, and advanced users are invited to join our developer community
and help to enhance and extend the system. You can learn more about
Altus Metrum products at http://altusmetrum.org.

Thank you all for your continuing support of Altus Metrum, and we hope
to see you on a flight line somewhere soon!

Keith and I are pleased to announce the immediate availability of TeleMetrum
v2.0, the return of TeleDongle, and that TeleMega is back in stock!

We've taken our classic TeleMetrum design and updated it with all new
components. Same feature set, but better in every way. TeleMetrum v2 is
a dual deploy flight computer with 2 pyro channels, 105g accelerometer,
100k' barometer, uBlox Max 7Q GPS and >30mW telemetry system with APRS
support.

Our original ground station TeleDongle is also back at last, as a part
of the Altus Metrum Starter Pack. Each Starter Pack includes a TeleDongle
USB-connected ground station for laptops running Linux, Mac OS X or Windows,
a battery compatible with any Altus Metrum flight computer, a USB cable,
and an Altus Metrum cut vinyl decal.

We're also pleased to have TeleMega back in stock! TeleMega is an
advanced flight computer with 9-axis IMU, 6 pyro channels, uBlox Max
7Q GPS and >30mW telemetry system with APRS support. We designed TeleMega
to be the ideal flight computer for sustainers and other complex projects

All Altus Metrum products are completely open hardware and open source.
The hardware design details and all source code are openly available for
download, and advanced users are invited to join our developer community
and help to enhance and extend the system. You can learn more about
Altus Metrum products at http://altusmetrum.org.

Thank you all for your continuing support of Altus Metrum, and we hope
to see you on a flight line somewhere soon!

TeleBT working with AltosDroid
on an Android device provides
everything needed to monitor a rocket in flight, record telemetry, and know
how to walk right to the airframe after it's back on the ground.

The Bluetooth capability of TeleBT is also supported by AltosUI on Linux,
and with a micro USB cable TeleBT works just like TeleDongle on Windows, Mac,
and Linux systems running AltOS version 1.2.1 or later.